


Being Junie B. Jones (ON HIATUS UNTIL 2018)

by edith681



Category: Junie B. Jones - Barbara Park
Genre: F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 10:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10739787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edith681/pseuds/edith681
Summary: Nothing is ever easy, is it? Not when you're Junie B. Jones, anyway. Junie B. Jones is now a teenager, and nobody ever told her it would be so hard. Her brother drives her crazy, there's responsibilities to take on, relationships are suddenly complicated, and everything has rules.





	Being Junie B. Jones (ON HIATUS UNTIL 2018)

Asperger's syndrome.

 

Two little words that mean your life will never be the same again. And I have it, which means my life will never be the same again. Mother and Daddy brought me to a psychologist about a year ago so I could get tested because they thought I might have something like ADHD, but I don't. Turns out, I'm just super hyper and optimistic. But anyway, back to the Asperger's.

 

Mother and Daddy were surprised when they learned that I had Asperger's, but the psychologist. He said I showed a lot of the signs when I was meeting with him and everything. He also said I had a learning disability.

 

Mother and Daddy bought me a book and gave it to me. The title was All Cats Have Asperger's syndrome. When they said they had a present for me, I got very excited. It turned out to be a book about cats, which got me even more excited. But then I saw the title, and I thought Why would they buy me a book like this?

 

I was very confused, but as I read through the book, I got more and more curious. Every page had a picture of a cat, with a fact about Asperger's syndrome to go along with them, and most of them sounded a lot like me.

 

Finally, I asked Mother and Daddy what was going on. They told me I had Asperger's. They told me that was why they had bought me the book. I started to get happy again. I thought I was just a weird kid who couldn't manage my emotions, but I had Asperger's syndrome! We talked for a long time, and me, Mother, and Daddy asked a million more questions.

 

Finally, we were finished with all that, and we were ready to leave. I was going to be so glad to be home.

 

Who am I, you ask? My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don't like Beatrice. I just like B. And that's all.

 

***  
  
  


I think I fell asleep in the car, because I felt Mother shaking me and telling me were home.

 

I was personally really glad to be home, because it had been a really long day. First I went to school, and since it was during the last few days of school, everyone was really busy, so it had really stressed me out. Then Mother and Daddy picked me up. They had to make a stop at the computer store because Daddy needed a new printer. (Even though they sell perfectly good printers at Value Village.)

 

Oh, yeah, and then they told me we had to go see the psychologist, which they did not tell me before they picked me up! So, yeah, it was a really long and exhausting day.

 

I went to the door and opened it with my key, holding it for Mother and Daddy while they carried the printer inside. Daddy said thank you.

 

"You're welcome," I said back very politely.

 

I finally got in the house, where I kicked my shoes off and started heading to my room while Mother and Daddy began trying to set up the printer.

 

"Junie B!" Mother called after me.

 

I sighed and turned around. I knew exactly what she was going to say. She was going to tell me to put my shoes away in the closet. She complains a lot because I just kick my shoes off and don't put them away, so she has to remind me at least three times a week, but if she would let me leave my shoes on the carpet, this would not would be an issue, I tell you.

 

"Come here, honey."

 

I went to her. She hugged me. "Get some rest."

 

I intended to.

 

Daddy hugged me also. "And if you need to talk about anything, we're here for you."

 

I smiled and nodded. "I know that, you silly parents."

 

Then I went to my room and set up a movie on my DVD player. I had been collecting movies since I got a DVD player for my room, which was about 4 years ago on my tenth birthday, so yes, I had quite the collection.

 

Philip Johnny Bob was sitting on my bed. I put him on my lap. Then I pulled the ribbon out of my hair, pressed play on my remote, and picked up the water bottle that I had previously grabbed from the fridge.

 

 _How was your day?_ asked Philip Johnny Bob.

 

"Long," I replied, stretching out the word so he could feel just how long my day had been. II told him I would tell him more tomorrow.

 

***

 

The next day was the very last day of school. I woke up so happy that I was finally going to be done with school and get on to summer! Ollie had turned nine two weeks ago.

 

I should probably talk about my brother Ollie. He was born when I was almost six and in afternoon kindergarten. I thought he was a monkey at first, except that it turned out to just be a misunderstanding. It was a bit disappointing, but now that he's older, I'm glad he's not a monkey. Well, now he's older like I said. He is nine. He is sometimes mischievous, but mostly he is caring, loving, and respectful. We love each other very much, and we get along (most of the time).

 

Except for this one time when I was taking a nap on the couch, about two years ago, and Ollie squirted whipped cream onto my right hand, then tickled my nose with a feather, so I went to smack the bug that I thought was on my face, but I just ended up with a face full of whipped cream.

 

I told Philip Johnny Bob that we would talk when I got home from school. I was going to tell him that I had Asperger's syndrome, but I didn't want to leave him wondering the whole day.

 

I had cereal and milk, which was easy for me to make now because I can actually lift the milk. Once, when I was almost 6, I had to make cereal and orange juice because I couldn't lift the milk. It almost made me puke, I tell you.

 

This morning, Ollie asked me to make him something, so I made him fried eggs, which I know how to make. Sometimes I think Ollie thinks I am his personal servant. This morning, though, he woke up late, so I made eggs so they would be ready when he woke up. He asked me if I would make him some food, and I told him I already had.

 

I was just rinsing the dishes when the bus pulled up outside. Ollie was already rushing out the door, but I caught it and was close behind him. Grabbing my bag and my hat, I ran out to the bus and Ollie had saved me a seat as usual, which was where I sat.

 

I used to sit beside a girl named Grace, but she moved to Florida after the second grade. At first we stayed in touch by writing each other letters and whatnot, but eventually we were contacting each other less and less until soon, we just stopped.

 

My other friend was named Lucille, and she still goes to my school and we're still friends and stuff. I used to be friends with three boys, but they all just drifted away from me. I dunno. It said in the book that people with Asperger's have trouble making and keeping friends. Maybe it's that. Anyway, Lucille is pretty much my only friend, and she doesn't ride the bus, so Ollie let's me sit with him, maybe because he is in the same kind of situation. I'm not 100% on that, though.

 

I wish I had more friends. I also wish Ollie had more friends, also. But unfortunately for us, that is a situation that we have no control over. At least tattletale May moved away after the first grade, and I never had to deal with her again.

 

I really like having Lucille, and Ollie has Douglas. Having Lucille as a friend is great, and I don't want anyone to replace her. I just want someone to go with her. Also, just between you and me, Lucille has a super rich nanna, and on my birthday, I also get a large amount of cash. Or a cheque, which you can apparently trade in and get cash. I don't get banks.

 

Anyway, on Christmas, Lucille sent me a cheque for $300. I think at one point, my parents called Lucille and her rich nanna and asked her to stop sending or giving me so much money, but I guess they must have said no, because the cheques kept coming.

 

Another perk to having just one friend is that you can spend way more time together, and you don't have to split the time up, because there is just one of them! So the two of you become really close.

 

Ollie's friend, Douglas, also gets driven to school so instead of sitting by ourselves on the bus, me and Ollie sit by ourselves together. We don't say much. But most days, not much needs to be said. We just exchange a smile.

 

***  
  
  


The school day dragged by. After lunch, however, it got interesting. Mr. Hudson, my teacher, said that today instead of doing work like we usually did, that we were all going to take time out to talk about special people in our lives. I got very excited. He said he wanted each member of the class to say a few things about someone special who was important. Then I got one of my best ideas ever!

 

"Hey, Mr. Hudson!" I cried. "I had an idea. My brother Ollie is right down the hall from this classroom. So I thought, if you wrote me a note explaining the situation, that maybe he could come and serve as an example. Because he is pretty much the most important person in my life at the moment."

 

Mr. Hudson's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea, Junie B! I'll write you a note, okay?'

 

My eyes got wide. Because I didn't expect Mr. Hudson to agree to that plan, that's why. Anyway, it wasn't like Ollie was going to be missing anything. It was math class, and he never pays attention to that stuff. He has a seat in the back of the class, so he normally just draws pictures or whatever. I took the note to his classroom.

 

As I suspected, the teacher was giving one last lecture about fractions, while Ollie was set up in the back of the classroom with his usual stack of paper and crayons, drawing something. He saw me before the teacher did.

 

"Junie!" he yelled really loud. He just calls me Junie, which is fine by me.

 

Of course, they all heard, and so all the kids looked up, and the teacher gave me an unpleasant look. But I didn't pay much attention. On account of I was here on a mission.

 

"Attention, Ollie Jones! I am here to free you from this prison!" I announced loudly.

 

"And just what kind of clearance do you have for that?" asked the teacher. Her name is Mrs. Ericson, I believe.

 

"This kind of clearance, that's what!" I handed her the note very proudly. She unfolded the note and read it. While she wasn't looking, I shot Ollie a wink that meant, don't worry, I am going to get you out of here.

 

"Ollie, you are free to go," said the teacher. She sighed at the end, really quietly, but I heard it.

 

Ollie snatched up whatever picture he was working on at the moment and followed me to my classroom.

 

Lucille was talking about the special person in her life-her nanna. I sat down and took an extra chair for Ollie. Lucille kept on talking, and when she was finished, my teacher called me and Ollie up.

 

"This is the special person in my life," I said proudly. "My little brother, Ollie. He just turned nine. He was born when I was 5 years old. Ollie, is there anything you'd like to say?"

 

"What can I say?" asked Ollie.

 

"Anything you want," I encouraged him.

 

"My name is Ollie H. Jones. The H. stands for Hudson. Except I don't like Hudson. I just like H, and that's all."

 

A few kids laughed. "Junie B, did you teach him that?" asked Lucille.

 

I smiled. "No. That's just my little brother, is all."

 

Ollie smiled proudly. "I don't pay attention in math class. I like to draw instead."

 

This time the whole class laughed. "I can sympathize with you, little dude!" said a boy named Toby who I sit next to. Everybody laughed again.

 

"Here's the picture I drew today," he said, holding it up. "This is me and Junie standing outside our house."

 

I got tears in my eyes. Except they were happy tears. On account of I love my brother a lot, and I really liked that picture.

 

"Does anyone have any questions?" asked Ollie.

 

Toby raised his hand. "Yeah, I have two questions. First of all, what's your favorite subject, little dude?"

 

"Lunch," said Ollie. The whole class laughed, including Mr. Hudson this time.

 

"He has a name, you know," I said, annoyed.

 

"I know."

 

"I don't mind," said Ollie.

 

"Second, why does your brother get to call you just Junie and nobody else does?" asked Toby.

 

"Because, he's my brother and he's important to me. It's because he's family."

 

"If you marry me, then we'll be family too, Junie."

 

I tried to ignore him. "Does anybody have any other questions?"

 

"Yeah. Will you marry me Junie?" Toby piped up again.

 

"No, and don't call me Junie."

 

"Whatever you say, Junie," he said.

 

"Alright, I think our presentation is done," I said. On account of Toby was bothering me a whole lot.

 

"Ok, Ollie, thank you for coming," said Mr. Hudson. "It was very nice meeting you. I can see you and your sister care about each other a lot."

 

"Hey, little dude!" called Toby. "What do you think about me and your sister getting married?"

 

Ollie just shrugged. "I don't even know your name."

 

"It's Toby."

 

"That's enough, Toby," said Mr. Hudson calmly. "Ollie, you may go back to class now."

 

"Do I have to?" asked Ollie, the disappointment obvious in his voice.

 

"I'm afraid so," said Mr. Hudson.

 

"Bye, Junie. Bye, Toby," said Ollie. "You better buy my sister an expensive ring!"

 

Toby laughed. "You can count on it, little dude."

 

Ollie walked away. When he got to the door, he turned around and bowed to the class. The whole class cheered, and I heard Toby yelling,"Bye, little dude!" I waved to Ollie, and he waved back.

 

I was a proud sister, and I had the perfect place for Ollie's picture.

 

"Bye, Junie!"

 

I'm lucky to have a brother as great as Ollie!

 

***  
  
  


I spent a few hours unpacking boxes and putting things away in my room. We had moved about a block away from our old house a month ago and I was the type to procrastinate, so I still had a ton of stuff to unpack.

 

When I was going through the stuff in one of the boxes, I came across something I hadn't seen in years.

 

"Hey, my old first grade diary!" I said excitedly. I pushed the box to the side, on account of I was finished with it and I wanted to read my diary. As I looked through it, I laughed at some of my antics and spelling mistakes when I was younger. It was really great to be able to laugh about the crazy things I'd done as a little kid.

 

Then I heard mother calling me downstairs, so I went to go see what was up, tossing my notebook off to the side.

 

When I got downstairs, Mother and daddy were both sitting on the couch, smiling like they were keeping some kind of big secret that they were getting ready to tell me. I wondered what in the heck was going on.

 

Mother told me to sit down.

 

Then Daddy called Ollie down, and said he had something to tell us.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Well..." Mother looked thoughtful.

 

"Yeah?" Ollie asked.

 

"Junie, Ollie, your mother is pregnant."

 

**A/N: Probably one of the shortest chapters I've ever written. How do you think Ollie and Junie B. Jones will react?**

 

**I'm really excited for the next chapter!**

 

**Show this book some love!**

 

**NEU: on or before July 30**


End file.
